Why now
Config brings the public product-building energy.
The private question is what happens after the talks, when AI changes the tools, teams change the work, and the labels people use to describe themselves start feeling less precise.
Z Dinners
First gatheringConfig weekSan FranciscoIndependent private dinner
Designer, researcher,
builder, or whatever?
A private Config-week table for people whose work no longer fits one title. Around Config 2026 in San Francisco, Z Dinners is convening a small independent discussion on AI, organization, and taste.
Not affiliated with Figma or Config. More like the conversation people wish they had after the public product-building energy of the week.
Why this dinner
A smaller conversation around a very public week.
Config brings together the public energy of product building: tools, demos, talks, launches, and thousands of people trying to understand where design and development are going next.
Z Dinners is for the smaller conversation that often happens after the stage: what the work is becoming, what titles no longer explain, and what kind of taste matters when AI changes the tools.
What kind of room this is
Not a public event page.
More like a dinner note passed to the right people.
In the room
Six invited seats.
Designers, researchers, builders, product-minded operators, and founders whose work has started to cross the boundaries that used to organize product teams.
The tone
More candor, less self-branding.
Not an official Config event, not a mixer, and not a panel on career paths. Just a smaller dinner where people can talk honestly about the work they actually do.
A few questions
Conversation cues, not portfolio talk.
Questions people usually learn to ask only after they have spent enough time building with other people, watching tools change, and noticing which parts of judgment still do not automate well.
01
What changes when AI makes product-building faster but judgment more exposed?
02
Are designer, researcher, and builder still useful labels, or just convenient introductions?
03
Which boundaries between design, research, and building still feel real, and which ones are mostly habit?
04
What kind of taste becomes more valuable when tools get easier?
A seat at the table
If this sounds uncomfortably familiar, let us know.
This first gathering is being convened by invitation in San Francisco around Config week. If your work already spills across categories, or you are thinking seriously about AI, organization, and taste, we would be glad to hear from you.
Tell us a little about who you are and why this conversation matters to you. A concise introduction is enough.
Already applied to Z Labs? Email Soda directly for this table.